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Concept
Douro
Summary
The Douro (UKˈdʊərəʊ,_ˈdʊəruː, USˈdɔːruː,_ˈdɔːrəʊ,_ˈdəʊru, ˈdo(w)ɾu; Duero ˈdweɾo; Mirandese: Douro [ˈdowɾʊ]; Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta Central in Castile and León into northern Portugal. Its most plentiful tributary (carrying a larger discharge than the Douro at their meeting) is the right-bank Esla river. At Douro's mouth at Porto, the second largest city of Portugal, the river meets the Atlantic Ocean.
The scenic Douro railway line runs close to the river. Adjacent areas produce port (a mildly fortified wine) and other agricultural produce. A small tributary of the river has the Côa Valley Paleolithic Art site which is considered important to the archaeological pre-historic patrimony, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within Spain, it flows through the middle of the autonomous community of Castile and León, with the basin spanning through the northern half of the Meseta Central. The latter includes wine producing areas such as the Ribera del Duero DOP.
The Latin name Durius might have been a Celtic name before overwhelming Romanization of Iberia. If so the Celtic root could be *dubro- (in that family of languages the final vowel sound often changes with context, as in Latin).. If so, the -b-, which there is no trace of, would not have disappeared like in Gaulish *dubron (plural dubra) > French place-names Douvres and the English place-name Dover (Dubris 3rd / 4th century) called Douvres in French, Dobra (Spain), Tauber (Germany, Dubra-gave 807) and in Gaelic : Old Irish dobur "water" and river name Dobhar in Ireland and Scotland. Modern Welsh dŵr "water" is cognate with modern Breton dour and Cornish dur "water" and result of a later typical Brittonic evolution of *dubro-, unknown in the Continental Celtic languages.
The possible origin is the hydronymic root *dur-, which is Pre-Indo-European or Pre-Celtic.
Official source
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